


irresistible forces

by firebrands



Series: tumblr prompt fills [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 01:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21383506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firebrands/pseuds/firebrands
Summary: for anon, who prompted with "tony's increasingly isolationist tendencies during his PhD vs steve's steadfast love and support (unstoppable force meets an immovable object)"
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: tumblr prompt fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541533
Comments: 5
Kudos: 89





	irresistible forces

two weeks ago, tony had turned to steve and said, ‘look. i like you a lot but i’m probably going to disappear off the face of the earth while i finish my dissertation so. feel free to see other people or whatever.’ he let out a loud exhale after he’d said it, as if he’d been practicing. 

steve had cocked his head, assessing tony, before saying, ‘i don’t think i will, tony.’ then he smiled, reached over and rubbed tony’s cheek, and added, ‘and i like you a lot, too.’

tony had flushed pink and wrenched his face away from steve’s hand. ‘okay. suit yourself,’ he said, before leaning over and pressing a quick kiss to steve’s lips and then running away to his class.

two weeks later and steve is standing outside of the engineering lab, thinking that tony wasn’t exaggerating when he said that he’d disappear. no calls, no texts, no _proof of life_ instagram stories. so steve had ordered two cheeseburgers and fries to go from tony’s favorite diner and marched over engineering department, where he is currently standing awkwardly outside of the lab door.

they’d stuck an old copy of the school newspaper on the windows on the door for privacy, and it made steve a little sad to know that that’s all the paper was good for; he remembers working on that issue as if it were yesterday, but to these people it was just–scratch paper.

steve called tony again, rolling his eyes as tony didn’t pick up. he sighed, then knocked on the door.

nothing.

he knocked again.

and again, more forcefully now.

after a few moments, bruce, another phd student, opened the door.

“steve!” he said, looking a bit shocked. it was around 8PM, and most other students had gone home by this time.

“bruce,” steve said, nodding at him. “tony in?”

“yeah,” bruce stepped back, letting steve in. “but he’s… in a mood.”

steve wanted to say ‘i don’t care, i’m in a mood too,’ but thought better of it once he saw tony hunched over his laptop, hair sticking up around his headphones, and forearms covered in streaks of grease.

steve walked up behind him and gently touched his arm, trying to get his attention.

tony pushed his hand away, not even looking up from soldering a circuit board.

steve nudged him again gently, and placed the paper bag full of food down in front of tony.

this made tony look up, and then look at steve.

“oh,” tony said, very loudly.

in his periphery, steve saw bruce slip quietly out of the room.

“hi!” tony said, in the same volume.

“you’re shouting,” steve said, and tony finally removed his headphones, the music loud enough that steve could hear it (making him wince at the effect it’d eventually have on tony’s eardrums).

“what?”

“i said, you were shouting.”

“sorry, music was on.”

“i figured.”

they stared at each other for a moment. “hi,” tony said, a shy smile on his lips.

“hello.”

“you’re here.”

“with dinner, yes.”

the smile on tony’s face bloomed into a full grin. “you’re–you really–” tony laughed a little. “hi.”

steve grinned down at tony and leaned in for a quick kiss. “hello,” he said, lips brushing against tony’s.

“i feel like i haven’t seen you in ages,” tony murmured.

“you haven’t.”

“i told you, though.”

“i know.”

tony pulled back and inspected the contents of the paper bag, letting out a small whoop of glee when he saw the fries.

“i figured i should get take out, since you’ve been busy.”

“genius,” tony said, around a mouthful of fries.

“yes, you are,” steve said, pulling tony into a hug and kissing tony’s cheek. tony squirmed, still obviously unused to compliments coming from steve, which only made steve want to praise him even more.

“i can’t believe you’re here,” tony said, trying to change the topic. “with burgers.”

“well, i like you,” steve said simply, because it was true, and a few weeks of tony disappearing to work wasn’t going to drive him away. steve kissed tony again and figured tony could stand to hear that, so he said it in between kisses to tony’s cheek and neck.

tony laughed, high and breathless under steve’s attention. “i’m glad it’s not driving you away, then.”

“good. because i plan on staying.”

“what, here in the lab?”

“no,” and it was steve’s turn to laugh, now. “i meant, with you, even with these wild engineering phd disappearing acts.”

“oh,” tony said, ducking his face down to hide another blush. “okay. cool.”

“cool?” steve said, chuckling a little.

“i mean–good. because… well.” tony ate another fry, buying himself time. “i mean, people usually. you know. it’s not cool, with them. that i do this. people i date, i mean.”

steve cupped tony’s jaw and tipped tony’s face up to his. “i can be pretty stubborn if i want to be,” he rubbed tony’s cheek as he spoke. “so if you don’t mind–”

“i don’t,” tony said quickly.

“then i’ll be here,” steve said, leaning down to kiss tony again. “before, during, after.”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr saw it first [here](https://firebrands.tumblr.com/post/188946236325/the-excerpt-you-posted-made-my-heart-ache-but)
> 
> i'm also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/firebrandss)!


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